In the past two weeks, Republican Christine O’Donnell has narrowed Democrat Chris Coons’ lead in Delaware’s U.S. Senate race from 19 points to 10 points. The latest Monmouth University Poll finds Coons has the support of 51% of likely voters to 41% for O’Donnell. Two weeks ago, this race stood at 57% to 38%.

O’Donnell has actually pulled into a 49% to 43% lead in the southern part of the state (i.e. Kent and Sussex counties). Two weeks ago, this region of the state was divided at 47% for O’Donnell and 46% for Coons. The Democrat continues to hold a sizable advantage in New Castle County, but the current 56% to 36% margin is down from the 63% to 33% edge he held earlier this month.

O’Donnell has also made gains among independent voters, now leading Coons 47% to 42% among this voting bloc. Two weeks ago, she trailed in the independent vote by 51% to 41%. “While Coons still has the advantage, it has to be uncomfortable knowing that O’Donnell was able to shave 9 points off his lead in just two weeks.

The interesting thing is that while her vote total has risen, the majority of Delaware voters still say she is unqualified for the post,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

The swing in independent voters is huge, as this reflects similar movements throughout the country in races that are going from blue to red.

If you look at the cross-tabs, respondents gave a 49% disapproval rating to President Obama; independents gave him a 56% disapproval rating.

I first saw the ad last night and my first reaction to it was that if your first campaign ad has you proclaiming “I’m not a witch”, then there’s definitely a problem.

Watched it again this morning, and my feelings really haven’t changed much, although putting everything in perspective is helpful. Considering the relentless attacks she’s taking from the Left, I’m guessing that this is the ad where she says enough is enough and hopefully, turns the spotlight on Chris Coons and the issues that should be what this election is about.

…[A]dmittedly, most “everyman” appeals don’t include a, er, formal denial that one is a witch. But the situation is what it is. She’s got a big pile of lemons and now she needs to make lemonade. No sense pretending voters haven’t heard about what most of them have already heard about.

Jim Geraghty likes the ad, and thinks it has the potential to be a game changer, or not:

Intensely personal, perhaps the only approach that could cut through the noise that has surrounded her bid since she stepped into the spotlight. There’s almost a bit of vulnerability or awkwardness, and that almost becomes charming.

I hope her campaign is getting this ad into heavy rotation. If it does, and the numbers don’t move, it’s effectively over…

I’m still not fond of the spot. It doesn’t work for me. I understand what she’s trying to do here, and like I said, it needed to be done. But it just reaffirms the overall perception of her not being ready for prime-time. But I’m a misanthropic pessimist–what do I know?

The appeal to the sympathy vote didn’t work for Palin as she was getting lambasted by the Left and the media every day during the 2008 campaign, and I doubt it will work here. Even with an energized base. I hope I’m wrong, though.

Let’s just say I’m really interested in seeing the next batch of polls for this race after this ad’s release.

Ms. O’Donnell is ubiquitous on conservative cable shows and talk radio, with her candidacy hyped by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and the Tea Party Express, based in California. But you can barely find a trace of Ms. O’Donnell or her campaign in Delaware itself, a state that is smaller than some national parks.

Whatever else Ms. O’Donnell may symbolize, she stands for the idea that politics in the online age is increasingly borderless and can often be shaped more by national causes than by anything having to do with local constituents.

[…]

The bulk of the contributions her campaign has received have come from outside Delaware, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and until this week she had no campaign office in the state. She and a few aides were working out of her town house.

If Ms. O’Donnell is actually running anything like a traditional campaign for the Senate, there isn’t much evidence of it right now. The campaign’s Web site lists no public events at which voters or reporters can meet her or hear her speak. (And in any event, Ms. O’Donnell has declared herself off limits for interviews with national reporters.) Last week, a spokeswoman for Shirley & Bannister, a Virginia-based consulting firm that the O’Donnell campaign recently hired, said she would find out about any scheduled appearances by the candidate, but then she stopped returning e-mails.

At the state Republican headquarters in Wilmington, staff members said Monday that they had no information about whether Ms. O’Donnell was out campaigning. A pile of O’Donnell yard signs, leaning against a wall near the door, was the only obvious signal that the party even had a Senate candidate. (The headquarters continues, though, to get calls from out-of-state voters who are furious at the local party for not supporting Ms. O’Donnell.)

After she won the primary, I wrote that the O’Donnell campaign would have to hunker down and work their tails off to get the message out about what she stands for, set the narrative and take her message to the people of Delaware. Part of that was going out and pressing the flesh with some old-fashioned politicking.

I disagree with O’Donnell’s decision to stop doing media interviews–I’m not a fan of when politicians do that as it makes it appear as if there’s something to hide, or they lack confidence in themselves.

But back to the Times piece. I understand the grassroots campaign is an online phenomenon more than anything (over $2 million raised doesn’t come in the mail), and people more astute than I on these matters have better insight as to what’s really going on in Delaware. At least I hope so, anyway. But I’m just getting the feeling that O’Donnell is not going about this the right way, and needs to get out there more and not less. Again, I hope I’m wrong.

UPDATE. It’s been a little more than two weeks since the primary and the O’Donnell campaign still hasn’t run a television ad. Jim Geraghty scratches his head:

We are a month away from Election Day, and so far, the O’Donnell campaign has yet to air a television ad. I am informed by those close to the campaign that the ads should be going up “soon,” with the precise launch date still being determined by those producing the ads.

[…]

[T]he Chris Coons campaign and the DSCC have each aired two ads since the primary, and obviously O’Donnell has endured being the punchline of every late-night comedian and Saturday Night Live. This race may turn on whether or not her image in Delaware voters’ minds has been irrevocably set, or whether she can show that there’s much more to her than her old appearances on MTV and Bill Maher’s show.

[T]he issues in Delaware are even more starkly defined between Chris Coons and O’Donnell than they were in the GOP primary. A vote for Coons is emphatically an endorsement of the policies of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. A vote for O’Donnell is a rejection of those policies.

Every indicator of electoral sentiment currently suggests that voters are prepared to deliver one of the loudest “no” votes in American political history. Therefore, it behooves Democrats to make the mid-term election a vote about something — anything — other than the Democratic Party’s policies.

Coons, 47, is the top executive of New Castle County, home to a majority of Delaware’s population. From a Republican perspective, there’s one really important thing to know about his time in office: In 2004, when Coons first ran for the job, he promised not to raise taxes. Since then he has raised taxes not once, not twice, but three times.

Coons inherited a surplus. Celebrating victory on election night in 2004, he said his “top priority would be to continue balancing the budget without increasing property taxes,” according to an account in the local News Journal. Yet in 2006, he pushed through a 5 percent increase in property taxes. In 2007, he raised property taxes 17.5 percent. In 2009, he raised them another 25 percent.

Coons wanted to raise other taxes, too. He proposed a hotel tax, a tax on paramedic services, even a tax on people who call 911 from cell phones.

So there you have it. This is a race between conservatism and liberalism. Plain and simple. And since the ruinous policies of liberalism have clearly been on display since January 20, 2009 2007, voters in Delaware (and throughout the country) have a clear choice.

A source with knowledge of the campaign’s online fundraising operation said that not only is the money is coming in as fast as it did for Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) ahead of his special election, but that O’Donnell’s raising money online at a pace that’s two to three times faster than Sharron Angle in Nevada after her win in the primary.

A week before his special election with Democrat Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, Brown raised $1.3 million online in a single day with some 16,000 individual donors.

Being that O’Donnell is the true anti-establishment candidate in Delaware and, given that she’s raised a boatload of cash over the past week and, that Coons is a tax and spend liberal, how long before the O’Donnell campaign switches to offense and make this campaign NOT about masturbation and witchcraft?

That’s the only conclusion I can come to this morning after reading this story from The Hill on the first debate between Coons and Christine O’Donnell:

Coons appeared steady Thursday, if not a bit boring — something that could actually prove an asset in this general election contest. He emphasized his experience as county executive while drawing contrasts between himself and O’Donnell without truly going on the attack.

[…]

Borrowing a line from Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Coons suggested the race would be fought on issues important to Delaware voters, rather than in the national media spotlight. “It’s often said that this is Joe Biden’s seat,” Coons said. “It’s not. It’s Delaware’s seat.”

Make no mistake – Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint, Michelle Bachmann, and the Tea Party Express will invest to make sure O’Donnell joins them in Washington.

We cannot let that happen.

We cannot let Joe Biden’s seat fall into ultraconservative hands – into the grasp of a candidate who is out of touch with Delaware and the challenges Americans face every day. [Emphasis added]

How Scott Brown-esque of Mr. Coons–downplaying the image of Democratic entitlement and dynastic politicians in their ranks when he’s talking to Delaware voters in the debate, but reasserting that Democrats need to hold “Biden’s seat”, while talking to the moonbats. All in the span of about two days.

There are words to describe people like this. “Hypocrite” and “liar” both come to mind.

Make no mistake – Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint, Michelle Bachmann, and the Tea Party Express will invest to make sure O’Donnell joins them in Washington.

We cannot let that happen.

We cannot let Joe Biden’s seat fall into ultraconservative hands – into the grasp of a candidate who is out of touch with Delaware and the challenges Americans face every day. [Emphasis added]

What a bunch of arrogant, self-righteous babies.

Here’s a clue Democrats–the seat’s no longer Joe Biden’s seat. In fact, it never was Joe Biden’s seat. As hokey as it sounds, the “seat” belongs to the people of Delaware, to elect to it whomever they see f it.

If anything should rile up the people of Delaware to consider voting for O’Donnell, it’s nonsense like this. The arrogance and the sense of entitlement. I guess its part of what pissed off the voters in Massachusetts when they voted for Scott Brown as well.

O’Donnell wants the Senate seat because she’s hoping to bring some real change to Washington.